February Update

For those of you who don't know, my father passed away on January 20 of this year after a nearly 6 year battle with cancer. Because of that, I've been occupied with a variety of things which didn't involve updating my blog. However, I now have a moment to include a quick update, so here goes...

While I was in Jackson, Charlotte had a big snow storm that prevented Lauren from leaving the house for a day. Having only had around one snow day per year since we moved to Charlotte, I figured that the snow was over for the year. Boy, was I wrong. Friday night/Saturday morning, we received 4 inches of snow. It happened early enough that Lauren and I were actually able to take a walk around the neighborhood and enjoy how beautiful all the trees around us looked without having to go out late.

Unfortunately for us, we had picked this weekend to rent a stump grinder and do yard work. Fortunately, it warmed up enough throughout the day that it wasn't too unpleasant and we were able to get rid of 16 stumps, most of which had been cut down by us shortly after buying the house. I must admit that I always have an inordinate amount of fun when we rent or purchase power equipment, and this was no exception. The only snag was that the Sunbelt people weren't exactly up to par for a variety of reasons, and we'll never rent from them again. The machine did work, though, and here are some pictures of me using it.

We also were able to bag up the rest of the leaves in our yard. We're trying to figure out whether to till the yard and then seed, get a few loads of topsoil and then seed, or just get someone else to do it altogether. We're hoping we can get our yard in decent condition this year.

Aside from that, everything is going as well as can be expected. My company was incredibly generous about the amount of time they gave me to stay at home with my family after my dad died, and I am so grateful to be working with such amazing people. Lauren's work is going well. They're hiring for a few positions, and Lauren just got a new boss after her previous boss decided not to return from maternity leave, so there are quite a few changes. Connor is Connor, not much to report there.

Hopefully it won't be as long between posts going forward, but we'll see.